Split Up Meals Feed 2
Its perfectly fine to feed your cat once a day if it works for both you and your cat. Just keep in mind that if youre feeding your cat only once a day, scarfing down meals might have something to do with the fact that your cat feels pretty hungry by the time mealtime rolls around.
Would prefer to feed quite small amounts frequently, but end help doing this while youre away at work? Try a timed pet feeder out to see if that does the trick.
I did this myself shortly after I adopted a second cat. I bought the PetSafe Simply Feed and have it rigged to drop food into a Catit Food Maze so my kitties can slowly pick out food and not gobble down their grub so quickly they potentially vomit.
Its worked out so well for me on so many fronts , I would 100% recommend this fix for anyone interested.
Do my cats try to bite it and stuff their hand into it to get more food out? Absolutely, but even with cats who do this, no cat has managed to break it open or get out more grub since its a conveyor-style timed feeder.
I go fully in depth about the PetSafe Feeder and how I rigged it, how many times a day it goes off, and many of the ways it helped me and my cats in the review I have of the product up here. Be sure to check that out in case youre interested.
Only give out one meal per day because youre worried about your cat gaining weight?
My Cat Eats Too Fast How Can I Get Kitty To Slow Down Eating
September 24, 2017 –
Its not healthy for cats to scarf down their meals. Eating very quickly can lead a cat to vomit up his or her entire meal soon after finishing, and lets be honest, when cats eats a whole days worth of food in 2 minutes flat, theres no way theyre getting the kind of enjoyment out of their meal that could be had if it took them a little longer to polish off their plates.
If you have a cat that eats way too quickly, youre part of a pretty big club! Its not at all uncommon for cats to eat incredibly quickly, even if theres absolutely no need.
But theres always hope: training your cat to slow down his or her eating is possible.
Ive managed to do it over the years with my cat Avery, who was a voracious fiend about dinner time when we first took him in.
And even before you get to the stage in the game where your cat is slowly eating on his or her own, adding hindrances that force your cat to slow down while eating meals is quite easy to implement, and the effects of a slower pace of chowing down are reaped right away.
Kibble or wet food whichever you use makes absolutely no difference.
You can force a speedy eater to slow down his or her pace very easily no matter which type of food youre giving out at mealtimes.
Some of the following tips are wet food specific, some are dry food specific. Most are relevant to both.
You can use a combination of these tips, or stick to using just your favourite one .
Safe & Durable Material
As your cat will be eating from this bowl, it also must be made from a non-toxic and food-grade material. You will find cat bowls made from everything from plastic to stainless steel, and from ceramic to clay. As long as the material is BPA free and approved as safe for cats, any material is fine.
That being said, plastic food bowls are the worst option to go for as your cat can easily scratch the surface, creating grooves in the bowl. These can be sharp on your cats tongue and cause them pain, and also act as a breeding ground for bad bacteria, which is far from ideal.
Stainless steel and ceramic bowls are more durable and resistant to scratches. For a slow feeder bowl where your cat will need to use their paws to find food, this should be a higher priority than if you were buying a traditional bowl.
You also need to think about your personal preference. Are you clumsy and likely to drop the feeder by accident? If so, avoid ceramic bowls as these could easily smash. Is your cat boisterous and often tips their bowl over? If so, ceramic is a great option as it is a heavier weight.
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What Can I Give My Cat To Slow Him Down
Feeding your cat out of a food puzzle toy can help to slow them down. Food puzzles are a great source of both play and enrichment for your cat. 2 There are more and more manufactured food puzzles available on the market that stimulate both your cats predatory and foraging instincts.
As cats age, wet food makes a better core food than dry food. However, small amounts of kibble are perfectly fine. As dry food takes a long time to break down, and will sit heavy in a cats stomach. This means the cat may vomit if it moves or drinks water.
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Try Cat Treat Toys And Slow Feeders
You can try slow cat feeder bowls that are shaped like mazes, making the cat work around the grooves and curves to get the food. You place the food in these slow feeders so that your kitty needs to solve a puzzle to get it, like with the Trixie activity strategy game tunnel feeder cat toy or the Northmate Catch interactive feeder.
Cat treat toys are also appropriate for curbing the gulping behavior. These need to be pushed or batted around into just the right position to release some of the food contained withinlike with the Pet Zone IQ treat ball toy or the PetSafe Funkitty Egg-Cersizer cat toy.
These cat interactive toy options have the additional benefit of exercise and mental stimulation on top of providing nutritionwhich more accurately simulates how it would be if the cat had to work to get its meals as it would in the wild.
Each of these techniques are most effective if kitty is being fed an appropriately portion-restricted amount of food and being fed once or twice per day. So, if you have stepped on yet another pile of regurgitation and swear it will be the last one, never fear. There are a number of options you can choose from, and certainly, one will work for both you and your cat! Im sure your kitty would rather have that favorite meal or snack in her tummy rather than on the floor, as well.
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Reasons Your Cat Is Eating Too Fast
If your cat has this problem theres a reason.
As mentioned above, there are several reasons your cat is gobbling up her food faster than you can turn around and put the bag back in the cupboard.
First, we find the most likely reason for your cats increased appetite and feeding times and then we tackle slowing them down
Lets dive deeper into some of these reasons!
Are There Alternatives To Slow Feeding Bowls
If you’ve tried a slow feeding bowl or think your cat will not do well with it then there are other options you can try. If you have only one cat with this issue then try multiple small meals. If you’ve got multiple cats there are several options you can try.
Single Cats: Multiple Small Meals
Spreading meals out is the best option if you’ve got a lone cat that still eats far too quickly and the slow feeding bowl doesn’t seem like a viable option.
You’ll want to provide several more meals a day but do so in much smaller portion sizes. The key concern with this method is that it is time consuming and you may not be available to provide multiple meals.
Given this one of the easiest ways to accomplish this is through using automatic cat food dispensers. These dispensers can drop very small amounts of food multiple times a day so your cat can’t gobble enough to get sick.
Several of the feeders will even allow you to manually drop food whenever you want from a mobile phone application. On top of this you can combine this with a slow feeding bowl so the dry food drops into a slow feeding bowl in very small portions.
Multi Cats: Feeding Separately
Feed your cats in separate areas of the house or in separate rooms with completely closed doors. Closed doors are a necessity for this to ensure it works properly, otherwise the fast eating cat will
For more detailed information on other reasons cats might vomit check out this great article from Dr. Karen Becker.
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Benefits Of Using A Slow Feed Cat Bowl
Its important for animals to eat slowly, but its especially crucial for cats. Using a slow eating cat bowl can prevent scarf and barf syndrome, and they offer several other notable benefits:
Using Wet Food Pat The Food Down To Make It Dense Before Serving
I dont use wet food, so I havent tried this out myself, but Ive seen this tip circling around online and it makes sense that it would work.
If you use wet food and you pat it down, compressing it considerably more than when it was in the tin, your cat should eat the wet food a lot slower than if its loosely placed in a bowl.
Why? Cats shouldnt be able to just bite and swallow food thats compressed to that level instead, a cat should have to lap and lick at the food in order to eat it which means the meal will take a considerably longer period of time to polish off.
As I mentioned when talking about feeder toys for wet food in tip #2, the Hyper Pet Lickimat Feeding Plate makes use of this idea, but also combines it with obstacles that should make eating even slower for a cat, so if you try patting down your cats wet food at home and it works, but you still want your cat to eat even slower, you may want to give this feeder toy a shot.
Have you ever tried patting down wet food? Does it work to slow down your cat? Let me know your experiences in the comments section!
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Pat Down Wet Food Before Serving
Patting down wet food is another solution, and that is a way to help with compressing it inside the tin.
When you do this, the following happens:
- When using wet food, you pat this and make it much denser
- It will be harder for a cat to bite and swallow the food and gorge themselves
- They will need to lick it in order to make this work, which means it takes longer to polish it
- You can even combine this with feeding plates since it makes obstacles there for your cat so they can get to it
Try it, and see if that works! Its a way to help cats stop scarfing down food, and although you may not use wet food, this is a great option.
Follow Up On Veterinary Appointments
Bringing your cat to regular veterinary appointments can help you stay on top of their health in general however, it can also provide the opportunity for you to monitor your cats weight, growth and development, and ask questions along the way to address other issues related to feeding.
Here at Dr. Rons Animal Hospital and Emergency, we continue to serve the communities of Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Chatsworth, and other areas nearby Ventura County, with great pride we love our clients and their pets, and we make it our mission to extend support and pet education to concerned pet parents. If you have remaining questions about your cats health or feeding, please today.
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Maintaining A Healthy Weight
Cats that eat quickly are also prone to overeating. By shoveling food down their throats so quickly, they do not have time to register if they are full or not, and before you know it their bowl is empty.
Overeating can easily lead to obesity which is detrimental to your cats health. Obese cats are more prone to several major health problems, such as mobility and joint issues, diabetes, heart disease, and a reduced immune system. Some cats get so fat that they cant even clean themselves!
Lorde Slow Feeder Ceramic Cat Bowl
In case your furry friend is far from being a slow eater and you want to do something about that to prevent various digestive issues, this slow feeder from Lorde is worth adding to your list of options. The item was designed to discourage cats from eating too fast, which contributes to a better overall eating experience. Plus, eating slowly directly impacts digestion.
The bowl thus features various protrusions that will slow down your cats eating speed and make the pet use the claws to get the food. Given the product dimensions, you can employ the bowl for many cat breeds.
The material used for its construction is non-toxic, odorless, and free of lead and cadmium. Moreover, the product is microwave and dishwasher safe. The item weighs 1.8 pounds, which makes it heavy enough for the cat not to be able to move it around. The surface of this heavy-duty ceramic bowl is smooth and there are no sharp edges that could harm your pet.
Pros
Featuring a funny design your cat will love and a sturdy yet smooth construction, this ceramic bowl is a great choice for fast-eating cats.
To reduce your pets eating speed, the product comes with protrusions that promote interactive eating and that will help your cat learn to use the claws to get the food.
To make sure the item is safe for your cat, the manufacturer used a non-toxic and odorless material whats more, the bowl is free of lead and cadmium, which makes it even safer.
Cons
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What Types Of Slow Feeders Are There
There are a couple of different types of slow feeders on the market. Each one has benefits and drawbacks, so we’ll briefly outline them here so you get a feel for which one might be right for your situation.
Traditional Stationary Hard Plastic
The traditional hard plastic option is going to resemble a cat bowl quite closely. The key difference you’ll note is that it’ll have lots of ridges or barriers built into the middle of the bowl.
These are there to stop your cat from simply jamming his face into the bowl and wolfing down all of the feed as quickly as possible. The idea is your cat will have to move food with his paws to get it where he can access it.
The biggest benefits of these types of slow feeders is that they are typically durable, easy to clean, and come in at a very low price point. On top of this you’ll usually find they have lots of little features after years of development to make them easy for owners to use too .
Soft Rubber or Silicone Feeders
Soft rubber and silicone versions are typically going to have a flat base with a lot of things sticking straight up out of the base. The shapes and sizes may vary, but more often than not they resemble a small patch of tree trunks glued to a rubber base.
The key difference here is that they are flexible whereas a hard bowl is not. Hard bowls generally require the cat to directly move the food with this paws.
Ceramic Bowls and Feeders
Stainless Steel Options
Puzzle Driven Feeders / Activity Centers
Tips To Slow Down Your Cats Eating Process
Many cats can become very excited when its feeding time, causing them to eat very quickly. As a cat owner, its important to monitor your pets eating habits and tendencies particularly if youre noticing any changes in their behavior, their physical health, or their mood. There are many negative effects that can result from your cat eating too fast, and its critical to take steps to help your pet slow down their eating process.
In this article, well discuss why its important to monitor your cats eating habits, as well as provide some quick, basic guidelines on what you can try at home to help your cat slow down when its feeding time. Additionally, some of these solutions might even help curb their excitement around feeding such that theyre better able to digest food.
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